He blinked, slowly, tiredly, and then he yawned. There was a cold wind brushing against him and he shivered. He didn't know how he was standing outside on the road, but he wouldn't call it a first time either, he walked around when he slept, and usually he was quite adept at avoiding his guards.
This was new, he never made it outside before. Not several feet from the house either, he looked around and found it was dead, and figured that was a good thing. It was blue out, the sun barely touching the sky with its streaks of light. The cold of the night misted on the asphalt, making everything look strange, like a dream, as if he could float away.
Sniffling, he stretched his arms and looked down the road. He wasn't wearing socks or shoes, but sweats and a loose shirt. It was almost a freeing feeling that came over him, like how he felt in dreams where he didn't have to occupy the reality. He liked this, the early morning where nothing could bother him, not the sound, not the sight, noise, or even the taste. He was free.
"Prince Noctis." He turned to see a man jogging over to him, he wore a black and white suit, a comm was stuck in his ear, one of the royal guards appointed to his safety, but apparently they couldn't keep track of a sleeping prince. Ridiculous. "Prince Noctis...I'm sorry, I didn't see you."
Noctis slowly shook his head. He was too tired to get overwhelmed. "It's fine, I'm not really surprised." The guard waited for him to walk ahead before entering the courtyard and back inside the building. It was dark, cold, and empty. He could feel the absence of his father, he never spent time at home, always at the citadel.
Noctis was escorted to his bedroom where he was left alone. He walked over to his bed and plopped down, gripping the blankets and crawling underneath. He closed his eyes and expected sleep to wash over his mind, but his eyes burned and he opened them. Sitting up, a yawn escaping his lips.
"Why can't I sleep?"
He's been like this for a long time, sleep being a factor in his daily life. He wasn't really sure what was real, or what was fake. He just went along with it, hoping things would go the way he wanted. Unlike what he had to do as a prince, he didn't appease the crowds as most people would think a prince would, he didn't exactly enjoy crowds, so he never went. He avoided his duties, sometimes going to parties with Prompto, it was something to take his mind off his dreams.
His dreams. The cause of him waking up and not feeling awake, and being asleep, but not feeling asleep. They came in and out, dragging him, and he was always toppling off the edge. Falling and never landing, but always in a different place in his subconscious.
It came fast, the hounds with the three heads and fire ignited along their skin, growling as they surrounded him, and he had nothing to fight with and there was nowhere to run. The other dream was a mirror, and on the other side of a mirror was a woman, and he didn't acknowledge her, he never did.
This dream he had was a reoccuring dream and he knew what it meant, he had time to think about it.
Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. She's dead in his dream, over and over he witnessed her death in different scenarios, and several times he was the cause. It was heart wrenching to see it, but after awhile, he got used to seeing her death. He didn't know what it meant for Lunafreya, he hasn't seen her in years, and probably won't ever see her again.
She's not as he remembered her, but she looks older in a field of Sylleblossom's. The blue contrast around her flowing white dress, and her back towards him, her hair light as if they were under water.
"Prince Noctis," she spoke, her voice always so formal, and never yielding, he didn't expect her too.
"Luna," he said, quiet as ever, but his voice sounded louder. "What do you want?"
It was a message, one he had many times over, and he tried to push it away, but sleep dragged him under. Even awake, he saw her on the street, following him wherever he went. She was persistent in telling her message, even how much he brushed it off. He was just too tired to take it under consideration.
"You have to know this," she began, always with the dire voice, the consequences heavy on her shoulders, the pleading in her eyes whenever she turned around, but this was different. She kept her back to him, maybe she knew that if he looked at her, he wouldn't listen. It didn't make sense, but dreams never did. "You have to prepare for the inevitable. Please, Noctis, understand that this is going to happen."
He could barely keep his eyes open, sniffling, he said, "I want to sleep, Luna, let me sleep."
She turned, and they were no longer in the field, but somewhere else. They were by a tree, and surrounded by the beasts, growling at them but keeping their distance. Noctis didn't know what was happening, but he knew it was a nightmare. He held her trident in his hand and was walking towards her.
"Luna," he said, raising the trident.
"You have to understand, Noctis, the darkness is going to cover our world and you're the only one—" she gasped, her mouth fell open as the trident pierced her in the stomach and he pulled it out as her body fell against the ground. "Please, Noctis...we're going to die…"
That was how his dream went and then he woke up on the street outside. He blinked and turned over, grabbed his pills and water bottle on the side table and took them.
He laid back down, covered himself with his blankets and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep. Why couldn't he do that? Why did his calling have to come to him? Sooner or later he'll have to do something, but today wasn't that day.
"Luna…"
And he fell asleep, back inside his dreams.
